Data for a better world

Big data and data science are a buzz words these days. In this talk, I will try to decode these buzz words with some illustrations from my work in demography, public health, education and public policy. I will focus on how data analysis and visualisation can help us understand the society and use it for social good. I will illustrate with examples on how data can reflect on the social, political and economic history. With examples from public health, I will show how data can help us trace the origin and of epidemics and prevents its spreading. I will stress on the importance of Data to build an informed society and make informed decisions, especially in the context of public policy. I will show case some open source platforms through which everyone can be data activists or champion of data science.

Bio-note:
Shivakumar Jolad is an Assistant Professor in the discipline of Physics and Social Science at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN). Trained as a Physicist and a Demographer, Jolad have ventured into various areas in Physics, Demography and Education. Jolad’s primary focus area is data and evidence based policy making focusing on education and public health. In education, his works include- small schools and school consolidation and analysis of Right to Education Act. In public health domain, he has worked on spatial and social determinants of maternal and child health care utilisation, and computational epidemiology with focus on vector borne diseases. He was one of the co-authors of Ahmedabad District Human Development Report 2016. Jolad has also worked with several Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) such as Pratham, Akshara Foundation, AID-India, Asha for Education, and PHM (People’s Health Movement)-India on projects related to elementary education and public health.